


Erasing

by sinisterkid92



Category: Timeless (TV 2016)
Genre: AU, Angst, F/M, probably AU, set somewhere in season 1 finale
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2017-02-20
Updated: 2017-02-20
Packaged: 2018-09-25 21:22:54
Rating: General Audiences
Warnings: No Archive Warnings Apply
Chapters: 1
Words: 1,188
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/9845429
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/sinisterkid92/pseuds/sinisterkid92
Summary: “My biological grandfather is in that room,” she noted, her brows furrowing at the oddity of meeting an ancestor when her own father might’ve yet to be a thought in anyone’s mind. “What happens when we kill him?” The life she had worked for, all she had done up until that point, would never have been. Whatever she returned to it would be to a world in which she had never existed in before.





	

Her hair concealed her face as she spun around to face him. His mind had already conjured up all possible scenarios of her and this moment. It was a whirlwind of everything that played drums with his heart. And oh, how he just wished that it would calm down its beating. 

Ever since the first time he saw her at the front of a fully packed classroom with a smile and eagerness to share with the world he’d been struck by her beauty. It wasn’t just her physical beauty. He had eyes, he would never be able to deny the very simple fact that she was the kind of beautiful that could not be sullied. That beauty ran into the marrow of her bones, into the very essence of her being. It was pure and unadulterated, everything he’d found himself not being. He wondered if he’d ever possessed that kind of purity even has an innocent child. 

There was no way that a person like her could be a member of Rittenhouse. Not someone whose laugh bubbled across the room towards him and for one moment made him doubt his mission. The diary had burned in his pocket, and for one moment he let himself feel regret for the things he’d done and had yet to do. Feel the shame as a heavy weight on his chest. It was not without regret and pain he was doing what he was. The diary always pushed him ahead. There was no going back now, no way to turn his back on what he now knew. 

The methods were questionable, but it was the only way he knew how to make it all right. In the end, the eradication of Rittenhouse from history was the only way he could ensure the safety of everyone. In the end, it was the only way he could save his little girl. He’d do anything for her. He’d become a monster for her, and so he did.

After months of trying to convince her, here she was placing a carefully steadied hand on his chest, just above where his heart was beating frantically. She pressed a finger against the lapel. It was all she needed to do, and he stood waiting with a bated breath. 

It had been hard to reconcile the Lucy he knew with the Lucy he met. The one he knew was the holy grail of information of all things Rittenhouse, a northern star to which he could always turn. She was always on his side. The one he knew had already figured out what he needed her to know. The Lucy he met was thrown into the water. No life vest, no one to throw out a rope. Sinking further into the trap that had been set up by the very people he was fighting. 

“They’re in there,” she said, her fingers digging into his lapel, holding him steady instead of barreling ahead into the room and opening fire. A glimmer of something in her eyes made him stay. Her mouth, painted red for the era, parted ever so slightly as if to say something. Nothing passed her lips. 

“What is it, Lucy?” Patience had never been a word that described him. His hand wrapped around the wrist of the hand that was now grabbing his lapel, feeling the rapid pulse underneath his thumb. Quick like a rabbit. Her eyes snapped from his to the hand that circled her wrist. 

“My biological grandfather is in that room,” she noted, her brows furrowing at the oddity of meeting an ancestor when her own father might’ve yet to be a thought in anyone’s mind. “What happens when we kill him?” The life she had worked for, all she had done up until that point, would never have been. Whatever she returned to it would be a world in which she had never existed in before. 

He tugged slightly at her hand, bringing her eyes up to meet his. “It’s Rittenhouse, Lucy.” There was something more than worry that danced a feverish dance behind them. It was fear so acute he, without a second thought, brushed his hand across her cheek, sweeping away invisible tears from under her eyes. The shaky breath that escaped her lungs revealed to him how close those tears were to actually appear. 

“I know,” she whispered. “I just don’t know what will happen after this, with me.” Her eyes darted across his face, looking for something in the hard set jaw and dark eyes that could give her hope. Give her something to hang onto because she was struggling for purchase. “I’m scared of what it will be like.”

“It is you who will make the greatest sacrifice of us all.” He pulled took a step towards her, tilting her head up to keep eye contact with her, his voice low to keep it from echoing off of the marble walls of the grand hall they were standing in. “Rufus and Wyatt will know who you are, I will always know who you are.” He freed her wrist from his hold, using it instead to brush the soft brown curls from her face, behind her ear. Everything about her was soft, he thought, even when her brown eyes hardened they were still kind. He prayed that this would not change that. Prayed for her soul to be untarnished by his presence, yet knowing he’d pushed her too far. He’d sullied the unsullied. It was blasphemous what he’d done, and he could never repent for what he’d done to her. 

“I know.” She repeated the words but it was drenched in emotions he knew too well. Regret, dejection, anger, and still determination managed to seep through. “We have to do this.”

“Lucy.” He pulled her attention to him again, this time it wasn’t uttered in exasperation. “I’m sorry.” She nodded, swallowing back against the tears.

“At least I’m here, at least I won’t just… disappear like my sister.” She smoothed out the lapel of his jacket, removing any creases she may have caused. “At least it’s not... “ She sighed, running out of things she was happy it was not. “Soon it’ll be over, there’s no going back, you’ll have your wife and daughter back.” She leaned into his hand that was still resting on her face, closing her eyes and finding the little comfort she thought Garcia Flynn had to offer her. 

“Rufus family will be safe, and you won’t be on the run anymore,” he added, and she smiled as she blinked her eyes open. 

“It’s okay that you do this just for your family.” Underneath her fingertips his jaw was rough. The stubble that hadn’t been properly shaved in weeks was prickly against the pads of her fingers. But as her fingers moved across his jaw his face softened from the harshness she’d always known on him. 

These were the last moments history would remember Lucy Preston, so she pushed herself up on her toes and brushed her lips against his. A chaste kiss that history would forget as easily as it would both of the Preston sisters.

**Author's Note:**

> Hiya! Hope you enjoyed this fic as I enjoyed writing it. I'm super excited about tonight's (tomorrow for me) finale, and I'm holding on to hope of a season 2!!
> 
> If you want to follow me on tumblr and share the squeeing over Timeless (and Garcia Flynn/Lucy Preston) I'm deckerprestonsmoak over there.


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